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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23521945">Learning Curves</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imtoolazytodoanything/pseuds/Imtoolazytodoanything'>Imtoolazytodoanything</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Gen, I need these two being friends for five minutes without Kija's devotion getting in the middle, So here we are, rest of the hhb only gets metioned, with a side-dish of angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 14:26:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,795</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23521945</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imtoolazytodoanything/pseuds/Imtoolazytodoanything</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>While staying in a fire tribe village, Yona struggles with her new lifestyle, old memories, and cleaning a small house. Kija tries to help. Hopefully the poor house will still be standing when they're done.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kija &amp; Yona (Akatsuki no Yona)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Learning Curves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for both of the sweeties birthdays. I really wanted to write something with both of them interacting and being actual friends (”But they are friends” Well, yes, but also....uh...their dynamic is...uh..interesting)<br/>First work ever for this fandom. So idk. Enjoy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yona closed her fists, breathing hard. She could do this. She had come so far since the beginning of the journey. She had taken down worse enemies than this. Come on.</p><p>She lifted the hammer again, and hit the nail with all the force and precision she could muster.</p><p>She hit it almost head-on. The nail bent a tiny bit but otherwise remained unchanged. It was still sticking awkwardly to the wooden plan, taunting her.</p><p>She groaned, frustrated.</p><p>She rested her forehead against the wall, defeated. What was the point of shooting so many arrows a day if she was going to be bested by a mere nail?</p><p>It was a rather normal day for the newly-christened Happy Hungry Bunch. Or what qualified as normal now, Yona thought. They were staying in a village they had recently "taken over", helping with repairs and chores to give the already sick people and elders some time to rest.</p><p>When Jae-ha had gone scouting the area, he had spotted a small group of bandits getting close to the village. He and Hak had taken off to deal with them just minutes ago. Yoon was busy tending to the ill, so that left Yona, Kija, Zeno and Shin-ah to deal with the manual work around town.</p><p>Yona herself was currently trying to cover up the holes in the walls of a nice old lady’s house. Emphasis on <em>trying</em>. She couldn’t help but pout. The other planks had been much easier to set, but this one just wouldn’t budge.</p><p>It was fine, really. She would surely figure it out. She kept repeating herself that, hoping it would mitigate the frustration she felt.</p><p>“May I offer some assistance, princess?” Kija’s dutiful voice asked her from the doorway, startling her. She had been so busy feeling sorry for herself to hear him coming.</p><p>“I’m sorry!” He immediately apologized after seeing her flinch.</p><p>“It’s no trouble!” She quickly told him, wishing that Kija’s vocabulary around her wasn’t such a collection of apologies. “I think I could use a hand though. I have been trying to nail this for ten minutes, and so far the nail’s winning.”</p><p>Actually, she could literally use his hand right now. Kija could surely nail it just with his dragon powers.</p><p>“Of course! Leave it to me!” He said, smiling proudly. He got to his knees next to her and started undoing his right hand’s bindings.</p><p>A fleeting image of the all flying across the village crossed Yona’s mind. “Uh, remember to be careful.”</p><p>“Do not worry!” He told her self-assuredly, but the rather potent movement of his hand was telling her otherwise. She really hoped they didn’t end up doing more harm than good. Yoon would be furious.</p><p>His fist made contact with the nail, with a loud clacking sound followed by a bang. Yona was pretty sure the wall shook a little. Nevertheless, the nail was pressed into the plank now. <em>Really</em> pressed, so much it looked like the whole plank dented around it. But hey, at least it was closed. And there was still a wall and not a dragon-hand sized hole. More than she had been able to do, at least.</p><p>“Good job!”</p><p>“Thank you! Princess!” Kija all but beamed at her. “You have also been working hard I see. Do you want me to take over so you can take a break?”</p><p>She reminded herself that Kija was simply being his usual dutiful self, and that any implication that she was useless enough to warrant a break after hammering a few nails was her own disappointment shining through. She shook her head, trying to look as energized as possible.</p><p>“I’m alright! I promised the owner of the house that I’d cover up the holes and leaks and clean up. I asked Shin-ah for things to clean the floor, he should be back soon.”</p><p>“Then let me assist you with that!” Kija told her, pumping his normal fist in the air.</p><p>She thanked him, although she couldn’t quite brush away a sour taste in her mouth. It was an unfair comparison, but Kija sometimes reminded her of the maids back at the castle. They would answer quickly and politely to her demands, but even she could tell they acted like that only because they had to. Not that there was anything wrong with it, it was their job after all, but back in the castle she felt that besides Hak, none of the staff really <em>liked </em>her all that much.</p><p>Again, the comparison was unfair: Kija did like her, that much was obvious. Although, sometimes, she felt like he didn’t like <em>her</em>, and rather liked the part of her that was tied to Hiryuu.</p><p>Shin-ah came back to the house a few minutes later, carrying a bucket of water with soap and a pair of old brooms. He handed them to her.</p><p>“Thank you, Shin-ah!” She smiled at him. He shyly smiled back.</p><p>He opened his mouth a bit, as if he was going to say something. Both Kija and her stayed silent, nodding at him to speak up.</p><p>“…Sorry. Can’t stay to help. Zeno needs a hand, too.” He finally admitted, looking down.</p><p>“Oh, it’s no issue, Shin-ah!” She quickly reassured him. “Kija and I can handle it.”</p><p>“That’s true! You go at peace.” Added Kija, nodding vigorously.</p><p>Shin-ah nodded while Yona started working on it. Or at least figuring the mechanics. She had never cleaned a floor before. She should probably first sweep the floor before using the water, right. Also, wasn’t a mop needed for the water part? At her right, Kija seemed deep in thought. She wondered if he was wondering the same stuff.</p><p>She noticed that Shin-ah was still there, she could tell he was looking pointedly at her even with his mask.</p><p>“Is something the matter?”</p><p>"Do you know how to?" Shin-ah finally asked, signaling to the brooms that laid foreign in her hand.</p><p>She thought that Shin-ah's lack of malice actually made her feel worse. If Hak were asking that question, he'll be teasing her about it, and that at least implied a bit of exaggeration. Shin-ah was just stating the obvious. </p><p>"Of course, Shin-ah! Don't worry." Kija answered a bit too quickly, voice determined if a bit strained. At least she was not the only one with a burnt ego.</p><p>Shin-ah was apparently satisfied with that, because he left silently after Kija’s response. Well, Yona thought, back to work.</p><p>“Alright! How about this: This house only has two rooms. You sweep this one, and I’ll sweep the other one.” She told Kija, trying to make this work.</p><p>It was a small home, Yona thought, how much dust can it have on it?</p><p>The answer, apparently, was a lot.</p><p>Maybe it had something to do with the fact she wasn’t quite accustomed to the motion, and therefore the dust didn’t really pile up in one place like she intended. She would be more embarrassed about it if she were with anyone else, but Kija seemed to be having the same problems. Well, he had the extra hassle of having a dominant hand that was ten times stronger than a human one, meaning that he had to concentrate not to break the battered broom into a million wooden pieces. Overall, he made a quite comical view, but she couldn’t really tease him about it because, hey, so did she.</p><p>Once she managed to get the dust to cooperate, she noticed that in the upper right corner of the room there was a dangling crosspiece from the roof in which a large web was nested.</p><p>Well, she should take care of it too. Especially before Kija sees it.</p><p>She figured she could hit it with the broom, try to fish it out. That plan did not go as expected though. The web did attach to the broom, but the crosspiece wobbled, causing a rather big cloud of dust, and part of the web itself, to land right in her face. Out of surprise, she fell on her back, ending up sitting on the floor.</p><p>As she coughed, trying to get it out of her eyes, she noted that maybe standing right below it was a bad idea.</p><p>“Princess, are you alright?” Kija exclaimed, rushing to her side. “Is – Is that a spider web in your face?” He added horrified, looking paler than usual.</p><p>Yona was too busy having a mild breaking point to answer him properly. The dust had covered the entire floor, rendering her efforts useless. Why did it take her so long to do such simple things? This was just ridiculous. Also, her hair was covered in webs. It was kind of disgusting.</p><p>“Ugh, I really do miss a warm bath right now.” She whined, defeated. And not having to do it herself, too, she added in her mind.</p><p>An ugly feeling settled in her stomach the moment the words were out of her mouth. She felt shame taking over in waves. Gods, she was still awful. There she was, in a poor old lady’s home, with holes in the walls and the ceiling, in a land that hadn’t grown anything in so long, whining like a spoiled kid.</p><p>How could she still complain, when she saw the state of the fire tribe? A place like this had likely been Yoon’s home as well. How could she still whine when she had seen the dark cave in which Shin-ah, had lived, isolated, most of his life. When she had seen the state of things in Awa, of girls who went to search work to help their families and never returned?</p><p>All of that had been happening while she had been clueless in the castle, with her warm baths made for her with maids who were forced to be nice to her.</p><p>Her thoughts were interrupted by a gentle (human) hand ruffling the webbing out of her hair. She looked at Kija, who was making a valiant effort to pretend he was totally fine with sticking his hand near a bug nest.</p><p>“Princess?” He asked tentatively.</p><p>“Sorry.” She told him, looking up to him. “I shouldn’t be complaining though.”</p><p>“Princess, there’s nothing wrong with wanting better things for yourself. If I may add, a bath does sound wonderful.” Kija told her, sitting next to her. His tone was unusually subdued, and he was smiling gently at her.</p><p>“That’s not…I miss the castle sometimes. I don’t know how to stop missing it. So much of it was just wasteful, given the state of the tribes.” She admitted, decidedly not looking at him.</p><p>“Well, I don’t see what’s so shameful about missing your home. I miss Hakuryuu village, and they also did some really wasteful things daily.” Kija contended.</p><p>“That’s different, you hadn’t had a country to look after while you had those things. It’s just…I had everything, back in the castle. I think my nightdress alone could have feed a family like the ones here for a week. And I’m trying to help, trying to make amends, I really am, but I just can’t seem to figure out how to do basic things. I miss not needing to do stuff myself, and I hate it. I <em>want </em>to become strong, and dependable. I just can’t figure out<em> how</em>.”  She finally admitted, looking at her knees.</p><p>“And you don’t want to admit this to the group either, I’m guessing?” Kija said, after a while.</p><p>“You all baby me so much already. And I know almost all of our friends have had it so much worse than me, growing up. I just feel so ashamed of bringing things like this to them.”</p><p>Well, there was always Hak, she supposed. But that was part of the issue, wasn’t it? If she wanted to get stronger, she would need to stop using him as a pillar all the time. She spared a look at Kija, who had a hand to his chin, seemingly deep in thought. After a few minutes, he told her, conversationally:</p><p>“I miss warm baths too, and sleeping places not filled with bugs and dirt. I don’t know if I would want them daily, like I did back at the village, after seeing how things are in the less favoured parts of the country. But I do still miss them.” He turned his head to look at her, a warm smile on his lips. “I do believe wholeheartedly that no one in the group would fault you for struggling to adapt to a drastic change. However, if you think that complaining of such things with the others is in bad taste, well, you saw what Hakuryuu village was like. I wouldn’t judge you for missing things I myself miss.”</p><p>She smiled, Kija was making an effort to make her feel better. And she was pretty sure it was purely for <em>her </em>as well. She hugged him, causing him to shriek and freeze in surprise.</p><p>“Thank you.” She said while she let the confused and flustered man go. His face had gone beet red in record time. “You know. If you’re feeling frustrated, you could tell me about it as well. We could have our own ex-rich kid shame corner.”</p><p>Kija snorted, slowly composing himself. “That sounds nice.”</p><p>She got up, trying to sweep off the dirt from her dress and hair. “We should probably finish this. We have been at it long enough already.”</p><p>They swept the floor again, both a bit quicker this time. So they were learning after all, Yona thought, feeling a bit better. By the time they started dripping water into the floor, she was almost sure they would be finished before Hak and Jae-ha got back.</p><p>She had been tempting fate with that thought, because while they were spreading the water through the floor, the owner of the web she had accidentally used as a hat made and appearance, right by Kija’s feet.</p><p>Several things happened at once. Kija let out an unholy shriek, tumbling backwards at full speed. Yona barely managed to dodge him, but in her haste she tripped over the bucket and landed, for the second time, flat on the wet and soapy ground.</p><p>“Are you alright?” Both of them asked at the same time, trying to sit up.</p><p>Kija’s clothes were dripping with water, and he looked flustered and apologetic. He was looking at her, biting his lip. Yona would have expected him to burst in apologies already, so she was kind of worried.</p><p>“Kija?”</p><p>To her surprise, Kija started giggling, which quickly turned into a full laugh. “I’m sorry, it’s just- I – we somehow managed to make floor-cleaning a parade of accidents!” He said, still trying to control his laugh.</p><p>Yona started laughing too. They were kind of ridiculous, weren’t they? Sitting on the wet floor, their backs drenched and the cleaning still not finished.</p><p>“We have been at this for an hour! This house is not even all that big and it took us so long!” She added, doubling over with laughter. “Yoon is going to kill us.”</p><p>When they calmed down a bit, Kija started to get up, offering her a hand. She noticed that he was looking at her funny. She was confused for a second until she realized.</p><p>“There’s soap on my hair too, isn’t it?”</p><p>Kija, looked away, trying to bit out a chuckle but ultimately being unsuccessful. “Sorry, I don’t mean any disrespect.”</p><p>“It’s alright.” She told him, laughing again. An idea formed in her mind. “Actually, can you get closer?”</p><p>Kija, although confused, did as asked and kneeled down next to her. Yona grabbed the soap-covered cloth they were going to use for the windows and squeezed it just above his head. His hair was already white, so the soap didn’t have the same effect, but it still looked ridiculous enough.</p><p>“There, we match.” She deadpanned, and seconds after they were both laughing again.</p><p>That’s how Zeno eventually found them, still sitting on wet floor and laughing their hearts out at their own ineptitude.</p><p>“Oooh! Are you guys having a water fight in here? Can Zeno join?” The boy asked, exited.</p><p>“We were trying to clean up, actually. We had a few…setbacks.” Explained Kija, who was the first to recover. “We should probably finish quickly, though. If Jae-ha or Hak, or even Yoon were to hear of any of this…”</p><p>“We wouldn’t hear the end of it. Ever.” Yona completed, shuddering at the thought.</p><p>“Then Zeno will help too!” He said, taking up the now-empty bucket and broom.</p><p>As they all got back to the task at hand, she thought that these new memories would be worth all her efforts, and probably all the webs and soap in her hair too.</p><p> </p>
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